Economists React

Updated April 1, 2005 12:45 p.m. ET

Employers added 110,000 jobs to U.S. nonfarm payrolls last month, the Labor Department reported Friday, a gain that was about 50% short of the gains that most Wall Street economists expected. At the same time, the unemployment rate dipped to 5.2% from 5.4%. What happened? Below, a selection of economists offer analysis of the numbers, and what they expect them to mean for the broader economy in the weeks and months ahead: